The Bartholomew County Council will be deciding tomorrow on whether or not to increase local income taxes. A large part of the new revenue would go to address public safety and the opioid drug epidemic.

Jeff Jones, head of Bartholomew County’s anti-opiate task force, the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress, says that county officials have realized that dealing with the drug problem will have to require new revenue.

Part of that new revenue would to staff and reopen the old portion of the jail. That would ease jail overcrowding and would leave room for a drug treatment center of inmates, Jones said.

By opening the old jail, the sheriff could segregate inmates who need drug treatment, Jones said.

In effect, the jail provides a captive audience of newly sober addicts, Jones said. With that sobriety, some would like to improve their life, he said.

The County Council is scheduled to consider the second and final approval of an income tax increase. The tax rate would increase by half a percentage point and would raise county revenues by $4.8 million dollars.

The County Council meets at 6 p.m. tomorrow night at the Governmental Office Building on Third Street.